On Studying "God-Lore"

We are delighted to have a guest writer: Sergio Chois

With the recent release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has once again asserted its dominance over the media landscape, captivating audiences with yet another installment within its interconnected multiversal storyline, which spans over 50 films and television projects. As a lifelong comic book fan, it’s been fascinating to watch friends, young and old alike, who I wouldn’t have ever imagined being interested in comic books, turning into not just casual fans but experts. They’ll sit through lengthy online videos that detail every reference, Easter egg, and end-credit scene, immersing themselves in the backstory and mythos—or as it’s called on the internet, the “lore”—of the Marvel universe. And the thing is, this phenomenon isn't limited to superhero flicks.

If you search for “lore” on YouTube, you’ll find a wide variety of multi-hour-long videos covering topics like film, music, TV , gaming, and more, each with millions of views. Additionally, Google search trends show a steady rise in “lore” searches since 2010, with significant spike beginning in the 2020s. People, especially Gen Z, enjoy analyzing their favorite media in detail, examining scenes, lyrics, dialogue, or connected storylines. In fact, this fascination with narrative categories, such as “lore,” has even manifested itself in Gen Z’s conception of reality. As one article points out, “Members of Gen Z are harnessing literary concepts to talk about their real, offline lives. On social media sites likeTikTok and X, they use words like ‘main character,’ ‘lore,’ and ‘plot’ to describe how they’ve acted or what has happened to them.”1 Young people today often see themselves as the stars of a movie or television series, with their own narrative arcs and supporting casts. While one can view this as a result of some kind of narcissistic tendency in a younger generation, this narrative-mindedness may reflect a deeper longing for meaning, connection, and a sense of place within a larger story.I think there’s something to be said about this recent obsession with lore. Could it be that the reason we like escaping into and immersing ourselves in the lore of The Wizarding World, Middle-earth, or “a galaxy far, far away” is that we yearn to belong to something greater than ourselves? Is our fascination with intricate fictional universes a reflection of a more profound intuition: that reality itself is a vast, interconnected story—one in which God invites us to participate? Call me naive, but I like to think so. Personally, I see the growing interest in “lore-heavy” content as a reaffirmation that we are, indeed, story-driven creatures. I am reminded of the words of literary scholar Barbara Hardy when she wrote, “We dream in narrative, day-dream in narrative, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, believe, doubt, plan, revise, criticize, construct, gossip, learn, hate, and love by narrative.”2 The late Rachel Held Evans took Hardy’s words one step further when she reminded readers that “We meet God in narrative too.”

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3 People often ask me why I decided to study the Bible. My answers vary, but at the core, it’s because I simply cannot get enough of it. Like my friends and others online who dive deep into their favorite fandoms and follow their favorite artists, I love fully immersing myself in the world of the biblical text. I do this not to flex my academic muscle or to be the best at Bible trivia (though that is a plus), but rather because I believe that through the study of the Bible, I grow in a deeper communion with the God revealed in it. Put another way, I love to nerd out on the rich “lore” the Bible offers us as readers—lore that is quite literally of divine proportions. I have come to see that what we call “theology” is, for all intents and purposes, just “God-lore.” It presents detailed, intricate philosophical articulations about who God is and what God is like, based on readings of Scripture. Seen in this way, the Bible can be viewed as one giant “lore dump” on God’s character and God’s relationship with the entire cosmos, as recounted by God’s people. Hence, why Bible nerds get really excited over things like the use of ancient languages, recurring narrative motifs, and the history of each book's composition, because we believe that it tells us something about God, the people God partners with, and the ways God works in the world.It has become a cliché to view the Bible as just another boring, ancient text. However, for this Bible nerd, such a sentiment is painful to hear because I know that the Bible contains everything that captivates us about the fictional worlds we love so much, and so much more. For while we may enjoy our favorite film and television series as passive observers, the Bible invites us to be active participants in the story we have been craving all along.

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